Abstract

Following the recognition of the surface‐enhanced Raman scattering effect in 1977, there was an explosion of research aimed at understanding this phenomenon of molecular interactions with nano‐scale particles, and more than 1000 papers were published by 1982. Since the mid‐1990’s there has been a resurgence in SERS‐based research with the detection of single‐molecules and the acknowledgement of “hot‐spots”. These measurements provoked new examination of SERS theory with a focus on the structure of these hot spots: fractal clusters, edges, or inter‐particle gaps.

Meanwhile, Real‐Time Analyzers has been developing SERS‐active sample systems and analyzers to exploit this phenomenon for trace chemical analysis. This presentation reviews the analytical capabilities and limitations for many of the SERS‐active substrates, as well as RTA’s metal‐doped sol‐gels. The latter includes the use of the sol‐gels in sample systems and analyzers, and their application to poisons in water supplies, food contamination, drug and explosives detection and proteomics.